Charles Cornelius,
on of Clark County, Wisconsin's best known citizens and whose
acquaintance and business relations extended far beyond its
borders, was born on a pioneer farm in Grandville Township, Ozaukee
Co., Wis., Jan. 4, 1854. With his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Conrad
Cornelius, he went, when a small boy to Sheboygan Co. and there
grew to manhood on a farm on the banks of Sheboygan River. When a
young man he clerked in a store in Glenbeulah and took up the
business of selling pianos, organs and machinery. In 1876 he came
to Maple Works, now Granton, Clark County, Wis., walking through
the wilderness from Marshfield. At Maple Works he purchased a store
and took an active part in building up the little community. His
business branched out into various lines and he soon became widely
acquainted throughout the county. Sept. 9, 1886, Mr. Cornelius was
married at Maple Works to Miss Theresa Nitzche, who with their
daughter Lydia, Mrs. R. A. Clemens, survive him. In 1887 he sold
out at Maple Works and moved to Neillsville, engaging extensively
in the machinery business. In 1896 he was elected Register of Deeds
of Clark County, and was three times reelected.

For a number of
these years Mr. Cornelius had been investing in real estate and in
1904 resigned from office to devote his time to his various
holdings. In 1907 he moved to Boston, where the family spent a year
or more, to give the daughter the advantage of special musical
instruction, Mr. Cornelius himself taking an advanced course in
commerce and finance in the Boston Commercial College to prepare
himself for the banking business. On his return to Neillsville he
purchased the corner where the First National Bank now stands and
proceeded to organize the bank and erect the building. He has been
the bank's president since it was organized and during much of the
time has been active in promoting its interests. He has besides
this been active in organizing other banks and promoting other
lines of business. He helped to organize the Farmers and Merchants
Bank at Greenwood and was its president and also aided in
organizing the Farmers Exchange Bank at Thorp and was a stockholder
and director of several banks in St. Paul and Minneapolis. Besides
extensive holdings of timberland in the West he was also president
of the Wisconsin-Louisiana Land Co., with large holdings in the
South. Through him many of his old friends and neighbors were
enabled to make profitable investments.

His capacity for
business was but one side of his character. In early life he had
known toil and sacrifice and yet through picturesque surroundings
he had acquired a love for the beautiful. To satisfy his longings
for these things he built a beautiful home and took great pleasure
in beautifying it and its grounds. The change in his condition from
the comparative poverty of youth to a considerable degree of
wealth, had no disagreeable effect on his character; he was genial,
whole hearted and generous; he loved little children, and over and
over again went out of his way to do some little act of kindness
for them. He belived in porsperity and had a pardonable pride in
the success of his various lines of business, but he never looked
down on a poor man or woman because of their poverty, nor said a
word to wound the feelings of anyone if it could be avoided. In the
hearts of hundreds of the people of Clark County his memory will
long be cherished.

Mr. Cornelius was
a prominent member of various Masonic orders, and he and his family
were members of the First Church of Christ Scientist of Boston,
Mass.

Mr. Cornelius died
at Marshfield Hospital Dec. 10, 1918. The funeral took place
Saturday afternoon at the residence, the simple Christian Science
ceremonies being observed.